This invention relates to railings, in particular aluminum railings of the type having upper and lower horizontal members with a plurality of pickets extending therebetween, the pickets being received by continuous spacers on the upper and lower members.
Component railing systems, typically made of aluminum, have become increasingly popular because of their pleasing appearance, relatively low cost and general ease of assembly and installation. One such railing system, for example, is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,200,240 to Neill Baker.
Many such railing systems incorporate a plurality of spaced-apart pickets extending between top and bottom members. The top and bottom members may have channels for receiving the tops and bottoms of the pickets. In some earlier systems individual spacers were fitted over the channels between the pickets during the assembly operation. An appreciable amount of time and labor must therefore be spent on the job site fitting the pickets into the upper and lower members and then fitting the spacers individually.